"Good morning, ma'am."
I gasped, knowing that voice.
"Mr Wyatt!" I felt myself blush as I just about stopped myself before him, having turned around in joy. I'd known he was safe, thank goodness, thanks to his letters... But to see him, in his uniform, safe and sound – that was another thing altogether! "I didn't – I didn't expect to see you so soon!"
"I can always leave." He replied, with that small smile that made my heart melt. Oh, I was glad he wasn't hurt. Sometimes, I could hear gunfire in the distance. It terrified me, thinking that he could be out there. "Especially if you insist on calling me Mr Wyatt."
I smiled down at the ground. He was... Charming.
"Garrett, then." I said shyly, looking up at him. "Are you here with any of your other m-"
I stopped, seeing him jump down from his horse.
"Isadora, you remember my good friend, Captain Slade, don't you?" Garrett beamed, seemingly oblivious to both my and Captain Slade's stricken expressions. "Avery, this is the lovely young woman I was telling you about."
Captain Slade and I regarded each other silently, Garrett seemingly oblivious to our discomfort.
"Excuse me." Garrett nodded politely, shouting instructions over at some of the other men. I swallowed down my nerves as the Captain walked over to me, nerves batting away at my stomach.
"Aver-"
"Nice to see you again, Miss Forrester." Avery interrupted politely, glancing at me with painful neutrality. In a lower tone, he added – "Don't worry, I'm not here to create a scene. You can go on courting Garrett as if I never existed."
~.~
Isadora started with a gasp as she woke up, seeing an angry, sparkly Meryl glaring down at her.
"You said you were going to be ready!" Meryl said accusingly, prodding Dora's nose with a glittery nail. "Come on! The party will be in full swing and just because you're being a frigid monogamist, doesn't mean I have to be!"
Dora said nothing, feeling her heartbeat still thrumming loudly in her ears. That nap had been... Something.
"Are you okay?" Teale frowned, seeing Dora's startled expression. "Did you have a bad dream?"
Meryl snorted.
"Well, I'm pretty sure I heard the name Avery when you woke up just then." Meryl said haughtily, gaining Isadora an embarrassed flush and a curious glance from Teale. "I'm sorry, I thought you weren't the way for us to get into his pants? Or am I missing something?"
Isadora struggled for speak, panic running through her. The reality was much worse than whatever fiction she could come up with – it was just that right now, her mind was fresh out of creativity.
"Oh, stop being so insensitive!" Teale admonished, surprisingly coming to Dora's rescue. "She told us he saved her life a while back, of course seeing him again was going to bring back memories." Teale turned to Dora calmly. "Right, Dora?"
Dora nodded mutely, seeing the steel in Teale's eyes. Meryl huffed but said nothing further, but as Dora rose from the couch, she could feel Teale's calculating eyes on her. Mentally, Dora cursed herself for choosing to have at least one intellectual partner in her ragtag group of friends. Teale knew something was wrong – it was just a shame that Dora would never be able to tell her.
Dora allowed Meryl to fuss over her after that, successfully avoiding any close interaction with Teale.
As Meryl obsessed over the contents of Dora's still fairly barren closet – she hadn't bothered unpacking much yet -, Dora allowed herself the small courtesy to go over her dream.
Honestly, it was more of a nightmare. Garrett and Avery, in the same dream? Avery in her dreams at all? As much as Dora wanted to put it down to the shock of Avery being at Pepperdine, she knew it was more than that. It was always more than that. Especially with Avery Slade...
Twenty minutes later in her daze, Isadora found herself outside of a fraternity house, spilling over with people, alcohol and loud music, herself in a stripy monochrome dress and a leather jacket Meryl had dredged up from somewhere. Dora mentally thanked herself for hiding her heels at the bottom of her suitcase – Meryl had grudgingly allowed her to wear her sneakers.
"A fraternity party, Meryl?" Dora murmured, glancing at the large building in disdain. "Really?"
"There is nothing wrong with a good, old fashioned frat party, Isadora." Meryl grinned, taking her and Teale's hands and marching them up the path. Standing just outside the open door, Meryl had to shout to be heard. "Don't cockblock me when I'm drunk, unless he's ugly!"
And just like that, she was gone.
If there was one thing Dora was sure of, in regards to Meryl Lesley, it was that she was a phenomenon in her own right. Had Dora been told she was going to be friends with a blonde bombshell like Meryl – all big boobs, sparkly lipgloss and unnaturally flexible legs from so many years of cheerleading and pageants -, Dora would have snorted derisively and gone back to her books.
It had been a chance meeting, Dora and Meryl. It had been at their college induction. Meryl had been sitting there, too cool for anybody else, though clearly uncomfortable. Dora had been a seat away, laughing at a message from Garrett – and her laughter had caught Meryl's envious glares at how comfortable she seemed in such an academic environment.
Taking pity on her, Dora had started a conversation, hoping to ease the poor girl's tension. She'd had no intentions of becoming fast friends – yet, somehow, when Teale had ran in late with paint all over her fingers, they'd all bonded over the randomness of it all. Miraculously, Meryl had made an effort to stay in touch when they'd all returned to their respective homes – Teale in Chicago, Meryl in Sacramento and Isadora in New York – for the last remains of their summer. By the time they'd all returned to Pepperdine for their first semester of college, they were comfortable enough in their friendship to bypass formal niceness – Meryl revealed her psychotic self, Teale opened up more and Dora found herself stuck with them... Something she, surprisingly, didn't mind so much.
Dora went to make a flippant comment about how Meryl had dived so eagerly into the crowd of rowdy, drinking boys, but then saw Teale's inquisitive stare and did the exact thing she had been about to condemn.
It wasn't hard to lose Teale in the crowd, just as it wasn't hard to find herself lost, either. Within minutes, Dora was surrounded by gyrating, sweaty, drunken bodies, grunts and giggles and the overwhelming stench of weed coming from somewhere to her right.
High School by Nicki Minaj was playing loudly, something Dora considered fairly juvenile. A college party, playing a song about the supposed joys of high school sex? Somehow, it just didn't seem ironic enough to be permissible.
Dora allowed herself to be moved along with the crowd of people, just about hooking her arm onto the banister of the staircase and yanking herself away from the rest of the herd. With her head cocked to one side, Dora looked at the staircase littered with cups before her, wondering whether she dared attempt to find a quiet spot up there – at the risk of seeing complete strangers rubbing uglies, or worse.
Dora was still contemplating what to do next, when she felt a hand clamp on her shoulder. Somehow, without having to turn in the slightest, Dora knew who it was.
"We need to talk." Avery murmured smoothly, before gently prodding her up the stairs.
~.~
Honestly, she should have expected this, Dora thought to herself bitterly. She had been naive to think Meryl would take her seriously. And really – Avery at a fraternity? That was textbook.
Speaking of the Devil, Avery had closed the door behind them, causing Dora to scan her surroundings for the nearest exit sign warily. It wasn't that she thought Avery would do anything indecent to her – a surprising realization – but rather, Dora wasn't sure she could last in a confined space with Avery without wanting to kill herself.
The sounds of the party were muted out by the thick door that Avery was leaning against, his arms folded impressively over his chest. He wore a dark polo shirt and jeans and watched Dora with calculation in those icy blue eyes that Dora had become so used to – both in her dreams and in reality.
"How long have you been dreaming again for?" Avery asked in a serious, quiet voice, his eyes trained solely on hers.
Dora squared her shoulders. No. Nope. No, she was not going through this again.
"I don't know what you're-"
"The fact you hesitated means you know exactly what I'm talking about, which I knew anyway from past experience, not to mention the fact you're a shitty liar, Isadora." Avery drawled, shoving his hands into his pockets. "Now, let's try again without you insulting – according to you, clearly – seemingly small intelligence. How long?"
Dora said nothing, pulling her jacket tighter around her. She didn't want to have this conversation.
"You know, I didn't get why I was dreaming again?" Avery began slowly, after a few moments of stony silence. "I came here and I thought, what is so whack about this place, that I'm dreaming about you here, when I haven't dreamt about you since last summer? If our dreaming matches, at least it means it hasn't gotten worse-"
Just as Avery had wanted, Isadora cracked.
"Last week." She blurted, letting out a frustrated groan as she realized how little resolve she had. "I – it was nothing definite, but it was that – feeling – and-" Dora yelled at the ceiling in anger. "This is all your fault! Why aren't you on the East Coast? You should not be here!"
It was the wrong thing to say and Dora knew it, but she was angry. Teale was right about one thing – seeing Avery again had brought up a load of memories Dora had never wanted to remember. They just weren't the memories Teale suspected them to be.
Dora tried to focus her mind on Garrett, her wonderful boyfriend. She loved him – she did. It was these stupid dreams that just fucked with her head.
"I can go anywhere I damn well want!" Avery snorted, shoving his hands angrily into his pockets. Dora glanced away, not wanting to remember the dream she'd had barely an hour ago. "No, you don't get to act all superior! This isn't fucking healthy! You think I want to be dreaming about you, of all people?"
Disgust rose in Dora's throat.
"You're an asshole." She spat. "I'm in love with your brother! You think I want this?"
Avery glowered at her, his muscles tensing. He thought he'd be out of the way at Pepperdine! Away from Garrett and the guilt he kept buried way deep down, away from goddamn well Isadora Forrester.
"All I know is that one year ago, we started dreaming about random-ass pasts between us. Romantic ones. The last I saw of you, I was heading for a jet taking me to Paris, and you were a little spot in the rear-view mirror of my car, growing tinier by the second. Now you turn up here and when I go to blink while making a coffee-"
Dora faked a gasp.
"The prince makes his own coffee? How well of you." She said sarcastically, ignoring Avery's glower.
"- and I'm in the middle of the Civil War, right where we left off, with Garrett stuck bang in the middle." Avery growled, cutting Dora off before she could speak. "Garrett. As in, my best friend and my new brother, for God's sake-"
"He's my boyfriend!" Dora yelled in exasperation. "Don't you think this is significantly worse for me? I'm dating one guy and dreaming about one I don't even like the next! I hate you! You are the very worst of a person!"
There was a tense silence as Dora's words hung uncomfortably in the air, the distant sounds of the party around them seeming out of place in comparison. Avery turned for a moment, muttering something under his breath, before looking to face Dora again.
"Despite the fact that what you think of me is pretty fucking irrelevant," Avery said in a low, angry voice that made Dora clench her fists. "I'm also the guy that saved your life, remember? I'm also the guy that told you that you weren't crazy when you tried to commit suicide by-"
"You're an asshole!" Dora screamed, grabbing the nearest thing she could get her hands on and throwing it in Avery's direction with a furious scream. Whatever it was hit the door, Avery narrowing his eyes at her. "You – you don't get to talk about that!" Her cheeks had turned a bright red, she could feel, something she didn't appreciate. The shame, the embarrassment... All of the emotions that she felt whenever she thought back to that evening at summer camp, it all made her sick.
"Wow, real stable, Isadora." Avery replied sarcastically. "Throw my stuff around, please, that makes you seem so sane."
Dora said nothing, heading for the door. Avery stood in her way, the two of them radiating death waves towards the other.
"No." Avery said dangerously quietly. "You don't get to leave until we fix this."
Dora rolled her eyes.
"When have we ever been able to fix this?" She muttered, rubbing her temples. Too many memories. Too many memories. "Avery, this isn't going to fix in one night-"
"Don't you get it, you moron?" Avery yelled suddenly, grabbing Dora and shaking her angrily by the shoulders until her bones rattled. Dora yanked her arms furiously away, ignoring the burning sensation where his arms had been – and clearly, Avery felt it too, because he let out a string of curses Dora knew he wouldn't usually say in front of a lady. Then again, Avery probably didn't consider her a lady – more a rash. "You, what, napped or something today?" Dora nodded. "Right. I was doing something mundane. Somehow, through something as light as a nap, I had a daydream in real time of what you were dreaming. We were dreaming."
"So what?" Dora said impatiently, wanting to stick her arms in acid from where Avery had touched her. "So what?"
"So what do you think is going to happen when we both go to sleep for real tonight?" Avery asked. The thought made Dora's hairs on the back of her neck stand on end – it was a valid point. "We didn't know we were around before and it was still... Warming up, whatever this bullshit is. Now we're aware of each other, now we're close-"
"We'll create distance-" Dora blurted, Avery already shaking his head before he finished.
"What good did that do us last year?" Avery murmured, running a hand through his hair. Grudgingly, Dora understood his exasperation. Even after they'd left each other alone and gone to opposite ends of the Earth, they'd still dreamt. As time went by, the dreams became easier to ignore, felt less emotionally attached, became a bit more blurry. By the time it hit Christmas of that year, they were almost gone. But the dreams were always there, lurking at the back of their minds. "This is college. Heightened experiences, constant crash sleeping. What if our sleeping patterns are becoming synchronized? We can't keep doing this-"
"It's not a choice." Dora wanted to tear her hair out. "Look, I am not going to sit here all night, trying to fix something that we have never understood."
"Yeah, you are." Avery snorted, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Do you think I want to see you more than I'm already going to tonight?" Dora suddenly hissed, reaching the end of her tether. She scowled inches away from Avery's nonplussed face. "Look. We can't do anything until we know how bad it is and I am tired, so either way, we're going to have to do this."
Dora and Avery both stared each other down, frustration almost overcoming them.
It was happening all over again. Now, more than anything, Dora wished she'd managed to crush Avery under that stupid tree. She'd felt it. She'd known this was coming. She'd hoped it wouldn't, but...
"In that case..." Avery said, his jaw clenched and his tone clipped and low. "I'll see you this evening, Miss Forrester."
Dora visibly blanched at hearing him say it outside of her consciousness – standing in front of her in jeans and sneakers, with probably deliberately messy hair and the beginnings of stubble – but stood her ground, holding her chin high instead.
"Of course, Captain Slade." Dora replied curtly, dodging his shoulder as he moved out of her way and storming towards the door, both of their stomachs filled with turmoil.
I feel a bit out of my mojo this chapter, I don't know why. But I think it's okay.
Let me know what you thought!
- TPR